Imaiphobia
by Mishaa
Summary: Multiple cases of children in hysterics lead Narumi Anjo to suspect Hotaru Imai of doing something devious. Properties destroyed, children suspended and hospitalized, and alices going out of control... Chaos indeed. #Merry Christmas Maria! (Cover by this.pen.is.red)


**Disclaimed. **

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><p><em>For this. pen. is. red. (without the spaces)<em>

_A merry Christmas to you, lovely Maria!_

_Love, Your secret santa ;)_

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><p><strong><em>.<em>**

Narumi Anjo heaved a heavy sigh as he watched the quivering student rock back and forth in his seat. Merely being the homeroom advisor for class 2-B, the student before him would normally not be in his jurisdiction, but the academy guidance counselor took a medical leave and Narumi was tasked to replace him indefinitely.

The snivelling boy on the lounge chair beside the teacher was Hoshino, a second grader under Serina. He was sent to the counselor because his academic performance was falling. Recently Hoshino has been on edge non stop and _anything_ would startle him these days. His focus was elsewhere and Serina wanted to get her top student "fixed" before the exams came up.

"M-monsters! H-horrible _horrible_ monsters! Violet beady eyes! C-come to e-eat me at night! E-even during the day! Everywhere!" Hoshino sobbed, looking very disheveled as his face was covered in both tears and snot.

Narumi massaged his temples, already frustrated by this whole ordeal. "_Sigh_, again, Hoshino, Hotaru Imai is _not_ a monster. In fact she's one of the brightest girls in the academy, to add to that, she's even one of Hii-sama's Flower Princesses."

"YOU DON'T GET IT!" wailed the boy, grabbing the nearest object-a tissue box-and throwing it at Narumi. "Y-you don't know! You know nothing! _Nothing!_" he cried.

The blonde's patience was growing thin. Of _course_ he knew what the female prodigy was doing, although his intel was quite vague, he knew, at the very least, that she played a part in all of this. However, _why_ and _what_ she was doing was still unknown to him. All he knew was that a stream of patients were knocking on his door, all very hysterical, and all claiming that Imai Hotaru was some kind of monster. But he couldn't do anything about it because the girl's actions remained normal and not at all suspicious.

"YOU'RE IN IT WITH HER! SHE BLACKMAILED YOU TOO! SHE'S TRYING TO GET RID OF ME, I TELL YOU!"

"Why would she do that, Hoshino?" Narumi said calmly despite the irritation he felt already.

"Who knows! Who knows! No one knows! No one _ever_ knows! She's a demon!" Hoshino stood up and pulled at his raven hair. "SHE'S A DEMON, I TELL YOU."

"Calm down, Hoshino. No use getting upset at me-"

Hoshino didn't give him a chance to finish. He crouched on the floor and continued his rocking there. "Demon... Demon... Imai... Dark... Violet eyes... No use... No one knows..." he chanted in a trance, still shaking.

Narumi uncapped his pen and began scribbling notes into a notepad. '_Sixth case-Hoshino. Claims Imai's been watching him in his sleep.' _All around that were more notes regarding the other five Hotaru-related patients he had. He flipped the pad and in a new sheet he wrote, _'Anxiety. Lack of sleep causes loss of focus. Refrain from caffeine. Prescribe sleeping pills more or less. A few days off from classes. Change rooms-one of the empty ones.' _

When he finished, he underlined 'prescribe sleeping pills,' ripped the sheet off and gave it to Hoshino. "Give this to Serina," he said, "and then tell her you've gotta go to the clinic and show the same note for your medication. If they ask any other questions, tell them to see me. I'll fax the full report to the head of your department later."

Hoshino said nothing and continued snivelling as he took the paper from Narumi. He made no effort to hide his hostility. Narumi watched the shaking figure exit his office. Hoshino thought hecouldn't hear him, but every curse he uttered was completely audible and Narumi could only cringe as Hoshino's language turned foul as the subject of his cursing changed from him to Hotaru.

**.**

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><p>Misaki could immediately tell something was <em>very<em> wrong with the English teacher when he stepped into the Teacher's Lounge and was _not_ greeted with a tackling bear hug from Narumi which he had grown accustomed to. He didn't miss it, but he was worried about his long-time friend. He noticed Narumi's recent odd behaviour-the silence, the _thinking_, the lack of outrageous costumes-but now he was _certain_ something _big_ was bothering the blonde when he saw the tense and dark aura Narumi radiated.

He came over to Narumi's work area and sat at the disorganized desk (Misaki was quite glad to see this; "At least _something's_ still the same," he thought.) Narumi's head was face-down on the desk and his arms fell limply on his side. He offered his mug of coffee to the man and asked, "Let me guess... Hoshino pointed to Imai as well."

Narumi looked up and saw heaven. The coffee being offered to him was just the thing he needed to raise his spirits. He gratefully took the cup and drank its contents down before replying to the Science teacher. "Ahh. Thank you, Misaki. Yes, it's another case of Imaiphobia," he said, sighing, his breath laced with the smell of coffee.

"...Imaiphobia?" he asked, unsure of what he heard.

"I've decided to name it that. Imaiphobia. The fear of Imai. It fits anyway, Subaru already graduated, that little blackmailer's the only Imai left." Misaki shook his head, letting out a small chuckle.

Narumi rested his chin on the desk, his hands coming up to grab his hair. "_Seven _cases of Imaiphobia! Three from the elementary division, and two from both the Middle School and High School divisions! Worst part is, I've got _no idea_ what the heck she's doing to them or _why_!"

"You're not even sure if she's really the cause."

Narumi slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. "_Seven_ cases, Misaki. _Seven_! Seven students in hysterics! Even _I'm_ not that good of an actor. They can't be faking their crazy and conspiring against Imai."

"I'm just saying you don't have hard evidence... Only the words from hysterical students said to have gone out of their minds." Misaki said, shruggin nonchalantly. His gaze wandered over to the empty coffee mug beside him. _'I should've made two...' _he thought with regret.

Narumi sighed once again. _'I've been doing that a lot lately_,' he noted mentally before settling himself back on his chair. "The first case was the girl from the Middle school branch, Maria. She said Imai was spying on her. She's been hitting everyone whenever her hysterics went up. She believes everyone is Imai in disguise and even went as far as trying to rip off the "mask" Jinno was "wearing." She's suspended from classes until she gets better. The second case, Len from the Elementary division. He too, believed Imai was spying on him, however, with the use of objects this time. He destroys everything he lays his hands on. He's been detained in a solitary room. The third case-"

"Your point is?" Misaki said, quite unfazed by the news. Many students get sent to the hospital and get detained. These were _Alices_. Their body can't handle the alice and in some cases, their minds. Some of those sick alices get dangerous-the Dangerous Ability class was testament to this.

"These are _children, _Misaki. _Children_. They shouldn't be suffering for things like this and I intend to get to the bottom of it."

Misaki's thumb and index finger massaged the bridge of his nose. "You've got to understand, Narumi. Imai is one of our top students. A special star in her first year of Middle School. A Flower Princess since she was Elementary. Top grades and brilliant performance. She's courteous and an ideal student. We're more likely to believe her than a few sick _alices_. Tell you what, I'll make a list of all alices with relation to the mind and give it to you. If you're determined to catch a culprit, it's probably one of them."

Misaki jumped from the desk and made his way to the Academy records room, leaving the coffee mug for Narumi to wash and return.

**.**

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><p><em>Case #001 <em>

_Name: Maria  
><em>_Alice: Telepathy  
><em>_School Division: Middle School  
><em>_Date of admittance: December 01_

_The patient was admitted after she tried to "unmask" Jinno. Simal cases prior to that exists; all attempts to "unmask" someone. She believes to have been spied on by Hotaru Imai "dressed as different people." No probable reason for this because the two are unlikely to have met (no probable reason for Imai to even know this girl.) Suspended from classes and put under the custody (and not to mention watchful eye) of Hii-sama. Currently in the Hospital wing. Delusions were traced back to the third week of November where she first tried to "unmask" Takahashi when she went to clean her room. Imai was at a Technical Ability class meeting._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #002_

_Name: Len  
><em>_Alice: Voice Pheromone  
><em>_School Division: High School  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 03_

_The patient was admitted after he attempted to destroy everything he could lay his hands on during lunch (managed to break a few trays and chairs but no harm came to anybody.) Similar to Case #001, he believed to be spied on, but in his case, Imai made use of disguising her cameras and etc. as ordinary objects. Again, no probable reason for this. Different facility/classroom buildings for each school division (Interaction between the two is not likely). Detained in a solitary room in the Elementary facility building and restrained by the Dangerous Ability class's punishment squad._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #003_

_Name: Kusami  
><em>_Alice: face-warp  
><em>_School Division: Elementary  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 06_

_The patient seemed to be an ordinary case of alice-rejection. He refused to say anything and insisted on being okay. His friend Buta reported something wrong with him. Kusami had not eaten anything for days and stole pills from the clinic (he copied the face of a nurse.) When questioned, he would say nothing but after a few of my pheromones he revealed that he was "dating" Imai and wanted no one to know about it (this information remains known only to him and I). I sent him to the hospital soon after that to recover. Alice-restraints were put on him and he's monitored by the nurses on duty (and I "asked" a few students I know to be free to watch over him on rounds)._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #004_

_Name: Buta  
><em>_Alice: his head can take the shape of an animal  
><em>_School Division: Elementary  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 08_

_Classmate and friend of Case #003. Coincidentally the one who had reported him. Admitted herself in. She believes to be seeing things although wouldn't reveal _what kind _of things until I used a little pheromone. She is seeing everyone as Imai. Buta is a Flower Princess (Tachibana no Kimi) and was put under Hii-sama's care. She is recovering with therapy sessions thought these don't seem t apply to the others who aren't able to have therapy._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #005_

_Name: Hayami  
><em>_Alice: heightened senses  
><em>_School Division: High School  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 13_

_Patient was admitted under the circumstance of alice going out of control. He reported severe headaches and would go to a wild rage. I did not suspect Imai at first but as I retraced Hayami's steps, the headaches and alice malfunction started around the Student Government meeting he was writing a report for, wherein Hotaru Imai was present as the President's "intern." He is detained in the High School facility building and detained by the Dangerous Ability Class punishment squad. He is wearing Level-C type alice-restrainants._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #006_

_Name: Yamamoto  
><em>_Alice: Telekenisis  
><em>_School Division: Middle School  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 18_

_Patient was admitted after he caused a riot with his alice during his Latent Ability class. He levitated everything and caused an "object tornado." He refused to stay anything and was delirious. He refused to speak to anyone and was shaking throughout our sessions. The hostility was sudden. According to witnesses, he was normal and fine when he suddenly decided to go berserk. Suspended from classes until further notice. He is under Hii-sama's care and is wearing Level-D type alice restraints. He shows signs of progress. After a few days of treatments he admits to hearing Imai's voice in his dreams. Unlikely that he knows exactly what Imai's voice sounds like but seeing as they're in the same division I'm thinking they've had one or two encounters and he remembers what she sounds like. Even so I've decided to take his word for it that he's hearing Imai's voice in his sleep due to my Imaiphobia cases._

_**.**  
><em>

_Case #007_

_Name: Hoshino  
><em>_Alice: Weather  
><em>_School Division: Elementary  
><em>_Date of Admittance: December 23_

_Patient was an honors student who had high grades (top ten in his class). Serina had him admitted because his grades were dropping and his performance was poor. He came under me anxious and hysterical (which explains why Mikado-sensei was having trouble getting the weather to be ideal). He sees violet eyes during the night and lack of sleep was causing his stress. Suspended from classes until further notice. Will reside in the Hospital Wing until the hospital head, Dr. Imai Subaru, will transfer him to Hii-sama's care._

_**.**  
><em>

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><p>Snow rarely fell on the Academy. When it did, it was under the control of the Weather Alice, or Nobara Ibaragi was in an uncontrollable fit. Today, the white flakes falling gracefully down from the cloudy sky was one of the scheduled snow-falls the Academy had. The students are not aware of the schedule, but the sneaky ones always found a way to steal the schedule from a faculty or staff member. Unfortunately, due to the new (temporary) post given to him, Narumi was piled up with stress, and he was one of the unlucky faculty members that got their schedule stolen.<p>

It didn't matter much though because Narumi did not plan on leaving the Guidance Counselor office today. He was determined to solve the Imaiphobia cases before the new year starts. The Teacher's lounge was filled with hustle and bustle and he could not concentrate there, so he opted to take advantage of his new Guidance Counselor position.

He preferred this room anyway. It was bigger than his stuffy work area in the Teacher's lounge, but it wasn't too big that the small fireplace couldn't heat the room up. Case #002, Len, went on a rage on one of their sessions and destroyed the heater. Narumi couldn't get a replacement until after the 25th.

The desk before him was much bigger than the one he had in the Teacher's lounge. Made with oak and painted a dark brown-red, almost maroon in color. But though the previous Counselor had cleared his things out of the desk, it was still just as messy at Narumi's other one. There were papers scattered all over, pens and markers out of their pen holds, and paperweights of different sorts not doing their jobs well enough-the forms and receipts on the floor were testament to that.

Often times, since Narumi got the office, when Misaki decided to barge into the room, slamming the door open, papers would fly off Narumi's desk, pens would roll off, and the cups acting as pen holders would shake, causing their contents to rattle and jingle. Narumi would jump from his chair and the papers he'd been holding would scatter on the floor.

And that's exactly what happened at that very moment. Misaki barged into the room (out of habit than anything else) and the slamming of the doors startled the unsuspecting Narumi and the case files he held fell off his hands and into the floor.

Narumi bent over and picked those up as Misaki marched over to the desk and threw two sheets of paper into the desk, adding to its disarray. "Here's the list of mind-related alices I promised you," he said.

"Hehe, thank you so much Misaki," Narumi replied, arranging the files, not bothering to look at the paper the Science teacher had given him.

Misaki signed and leaned on the desk, his left hand massaging the bridge of his nose. "Why are you so bent on putting the blame on Imai, Naru?" he said, frustrated. Imai Hotaru was his representative for the Alice Schools Invention expo. She would be competing with the other Alice schools for the ten thousand dollar prize. She was his key to _finally_ beat the darned Mr. Albert and his students from the Alberta, Canada branch.

He had no doubt Hotaru Imai was innocent, but Narumi could ruin his chances of winning if she was suspended for investigation. He needed to stop the blonde's from his game of detective. This was the real world with real consequences. Narumi's games and plays with happy endings and good versus evil was not welcome here. Real and _unwilling_ people should not be played by him. His games do more harm than good and Misaki refused to be victim.

"Misaki, _seven_ students pointed to her."

"Someone's framing her! Did you not think of that?"

"But to what end? Why? Why harm these many kids just to frame her?"

Misaki was angry now. "And what of Imai? What reason could _she _have?"

Narumi put the folders on the desk and stood to Misaki's level. "She's the only lead I have. I'll suspect her until there's proof saying otherwise. You can't change my mind Misaki."

The English teacher's voice started to raise, and not be outdone, so did Misaki's. "You've never been so narrow-minded Narumi! It's no use investigating! All you're looking for are evidence against Imai! You'll remain blind to anything else! Even now you're giving your all to proving Imai is guilty!"

"And _you're_ doing everything to prove she _isn't_! We're not so different, are we?"

Misaki, tired of the stubborn Narumi's reasoning, marched off out of the office, slamming the door closed. He didn't want to be another of Narumi's game piece, but if it meant being able to win again Mr. Albert of Alberta, then he'll have to do a little investigating on his own. _I don't care if I'm taking the role of Devil's Advocate here... Narumi's not going to win this game," _he thought, marching purposely down the corridor, a copy of the same paper he gave Narumi clutched in his hand.

**.**

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><p>There were nine greenhouses in the Academy. Three for each of the school divisions, one for the faculty and staff, one for the Hospital wing's pharmaceutical plants, and one for the Dangerous Abilities' dangerous plants. Misaki cared for the first seven. Despite the name, the only people who could enter the Dangerous Abilit class' greenhouse was Persona and a few other select students. In a similar case, Shirayuki from the Pharmaceutical department only allows those with permits to enter their greenhouse (although she was <em>much<em> nicer in denying entrance).

Among those seven, Misaki loved the Faculty and Staff greenhouse the most. It was quiet there. It was located behind the Admin Building and was far from the students' noise. Surrounding it was the Admin garden which Misaki also cared for. There were two Acacia trees whose branches spanned the horizon and gave shade to the greenhouse at the same time letting in rays of sun.

The kind of plants that were in this greenhouse were the kind used for decorative purposes: brilliant colorful flowers, shrubs cut to different shapes and sizes, herbs with wonderful aromas, dancing stalks, peas humming melodic tunes. Indeed, it was a beautiful garden filled with beautiful plants, much unlike the plant experiments the students have in _their_ greenhouse.

Misaki sat on a wooden stool and laid his findings on top of the wooden table in front of him. The table was long and thin, much like a tall bench, and on top of it, beside Misaki's papers where he wrote his findings, were different gardening tools: a spade. a knife, a watering can, a small bag of seeds, and thick gloves. Underneath the table lay three sacks of fertilizer, one of which was half-empty (or half-full, depending on how you see it).

Misaki had brought three sheets of paper with him in the greenhouse. Two were a list of names of mind-related alices and one was a blank. In red pen, he marked those that are likely to have a motive for framing Imai. Eight names were marked. Out of those eight, four had alices the affected the mind.

_Shoichiro (HS, telekenisis): [accidentally] destroyed Imai's project and she sent him to the hospital after one of her robots "accidentally" had a malfunction. _

_Hayato (MS, mind reading): He stole her blue prints for the robot in the Technical Ability class robot competition during the Alice Festival for Naro Shouda. Was held back a grade because his grades was low. Imai is suspected to have hacked into the system and changed it because Hayato had above average grades until then. No concrete evidence to nail Imai._

_Domo (elementary, telepathy): Younger brother of Hayato, unlikely but he is a child and he might take it to himself to avenge his brother._

_Halyse (elemenatary, can enter dreams): Caught stealing the Weather Schedule. Said Imai blackmailed her to do it._

Commotion outside caught Misaki's ears. It was unusual for there to be any activity outside. Barely anyone went behind the Admin building and so all should have been quiet, with the exception of the humming peas.

"Hotaru Imai Hotaru Imai Hotaru Imai Hotaru Imai Hotaru Imai," chanted a melodic voice. It was boy's voice. Probably belonged to a ten year old; the voice was male but it wasn't deep.

"You will go to your room and start a fire there," said the same voice.

The reply that followed came from someone much older, Misaki could tell. Female, but it wasn't high and pitchy like a child's. _'A high school student,'_ he thought.

"I will start a fire in my room," said the girl, as if she were in a trance.

"Why? Because Hotaru Imai is spying on you, disguising her gear in ordinary objects."

"Hotaru Imia is spying on me and her spying stuff are disguised as ordinary objects."

Misaki was not idle. During their conversation, he followed the voice to the back of the greenhouse. He hid behind a big potted tree. He was right. It was a boy wearing an elementary uniform, with flaming red hair. Misaki recognized him as Leo, the star of the Elementary choir. He had the voice pheromone alice, but it was pure talent that enabled him to enchant the world with his singing. His voice pheromone was underdeveloped and he could only use his alice at one person at a time.

The girl was a mystery to him. He did not mingle with the high school students nor did he loiter the High School division building-the paced

Not risking anything, Misaki took a couple of pea and plugged his ears with them. He saw and heard them through the glass. They were outside the greenhouse. So Misaki exited the place and to the back where the two students were talking without being noticed by the two. He grabbed a vine whip along the way and used it on the unsuspecting students.

"What the?" Leo exclaimed. Now that the spell broke, the girl, too, struggled from the rope. "What the heck? Where am I?"

"I must be on Santa's good list because I got a lucky catch with me today!" Misaki said.

"You! Let go of me!" Leo said, finally noticing Misaki. He glared, but leveled his voice into something melodic and calming. "Let go of me, Misaki-sensei, please?"

Misaki laughed. "Ear plugs, boy," he said, tapping at his ear.

Leo dropped the sweet talk and began struggling again. "LET ME GO YOU OLD GEEZER!"

**.**

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><p>"What is this?" Narumi asked quizzically, his brow rising. He had his arms crossed and he was leaning on his desk. Misaki stood in front of him with two students tied up with a vine, both their mouths covered with duct tape.<p>

"You _do_ realize this is child abuse, right?"

Misaki scoffed. "I think child molestation weighs a lot more than just tying up a couple of kids and taping their mouths shut," he said, referring to the many incidents where Narumi gave his students... a little _too much_ love.

"Touche..."Narumi replied, one hand scratching his chin.

"The boy is your culprit. The girl was going to be your next patient. I caught him telling her to set her dorm on fire because Imai was spying on her with the stuff there. Sound familiar? I think it was you case number... err..."

"Case number two..." Narumi said astounded. He crouched down and looked at Leo. "My! It's Leo! My very own star! You were going to be the next Reo Mouri, boy," he said, taking the boy's chin in his hand and examining his face. "Did you _really_?" he asked in astonishment, more to himself than Leo.

"Didn't you hear me? I caught him using his alice on the girl. You can use your pheromones on both of them and they'll tell you everything." Misaki smirked, proud of his achievement. He solved the case! It felt good. He could now see a little of why Narumi wanted to play-detective.

"You're an adorable little kid, aren't you! You're going to tell me the truth all right? I'm going to take off the tape and ask you some questions and you're going to tell me the truth, all right? Nod if you agree, you little cutie," Narumi said, using his alice on the now mesmerized boy. Leo nodded his head vigorously, eager to please the English teacher. "Did you use your alice on other students, asking them to go destroy things and blame Hotaru Imai?"

Narumi took off the tape and Leo replied, "Yes! It was wonderful wasn't it? I did _such_ a good job! They did everything I asked! My alice is just wonderful, isn't it?" Leo giggled. "This girl was going to be one of them! Haha! I saw her on her way to her Ability class! Told her I was lost and she helped me! Teehee. The idiot. DIdn't know what was coming! Haha!"

Narumi took off the girl's tape. "Is that true?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Ask her name," Misaki said. "What's your name, dear Lady?" Narumi asked, lacing his words with his alice.

"Mira, sensei! Class 3-A. You want to know my alice? My ability class? I can tell you so much! Anything you want, sensei!"

"So can I! I've got a whole lot more to say than her! I'm more interesting! I'm your star student, ain't I, Naru-sensei?" Leo asked, trying to take back the attention of the blonde.

Narumi kissed Mira and the power of his alice made her faint. He saw the jealous look on Leo's face and said to him, "You can get your kiss if you answer all of my quesions, Leo."

"I'll answer everything, sensei!"

"Why did you do those things, Leo?" asked Misaki. Unfortunately the boy didn't have much affection for him and all Misaki got was a tongue sticked out to him.

"Now Leo, Misaki-sensei is my friend! Answer both our questions, if that's all right with you."

Leo pouted, but apologized to Misaki. "I'm sorry. I did it because stupid Imai got Halyse suspended! Classes sucked without her and choir was _unbearable_! Those guys couldn't sing at all! At least Halyse sounded good with me! But Imai got her suspended and now I can't see her and she was even kicked out of choir! Imai needed to be taught a lesson! But Imai still wasn't suspended so I had to get more and more people!"

Misaki looked triumphant. "See? I told you someone was trying to frame her!"

But in spite of this Narumi continued to pry. "What did you do to Kusami, Leo? The sandy haired elementary kid wtih the face-warp alice?"

"He was a bully! Picking on all of us just because he was a grade older! I thought it'd be a good idea to get him suspended as well! I hear he has a crush on Imai so it was easy to get him to do what I wanted!"

"What about Hayami? You know that high school boy who wrote for the school paper? He's the one that wears the outrageous goggles."

Misaki smirked at this. Who was Narumi to call Hayami's goggles outrageous when he himself wore outrageous outfits?

"Who? I don't remember no goggled kid." Leo looked genuinely confused.

"Which one's Hayami?" asked Misaki.

"Case number 5. December 13. The one who's getting head aches because his alice is going overboard."

"That one said nothing about Imai." Misaki reasoned.

"I traced his headaches back to the Student Government meet. Imai was a guest of the President then!"

"Purely coincidental! I was right! You _are_ closing your mind off to any other possibility. You're determined to put the blame on Imai-not to uphold justice," Misaki argued.

Narumi sighed. "Misaki-"

"No! Don't you '_Misaki_' me! You've set your eyes on Imai! Look at yourself! There's hard evidence in front of you! A full confession! You just don't want to be wrong!"

"And you just don't want to lose your star! If _I'm_ closed minded, then so are you! You've closed off your mind to the possibility of Imai being guilty!"

"AT LEAST I'VE GOT HARD EVIDENCE TO BACK ME UP! YOU ONLY HAVE YOUR FINDINGS! YOU'RE TOO PROUD ANJO. TOO PROUD!" Misaki was fuming now. If it were possible, there would be steam coming out from his ears.

Narumi was in a state of shock. Misaki never called him by his last name. He didn't have any reason to. They were close enough to throw away honorifics and even use nick names on each other. They've known each other since they were kids. They were neighbors before they entered the academy and they were inseparable. Just like every other close friendships, they've had their share of disagreements and fights, even more of those than normal for they knew each other long and had many opportunities to disagree, but Misaki had never called him by his last name.

"I-I guess you're right," Narumi said, finally realizing how he'd been acting. He didnt' know what came over him. Was it instinct or just a sudden stubbornness? "I'm sorry. You're right. I was caught up in playing detective. I'm sorry." He said. He stood up and faced Misaki, who was still angry but no longer fuming. He gave out his hand, and said, "I'm sorry Misaki. I don't know what came over me."

Misaki's anger subsided and they shook hands.

**.**

* * *

><p>"Beep beep! Hotaru-sama! Beep beep! News news! Beep beep!" cried the robot bird, perched on Hotaru Imai's window sill. The robot bird-Hibird, as Hotaru dubbed it-was a yellow canary, much like the ones that flew in the Academy sky and were raised by the high school animal caretakers. It looked very realistic and only those with prior knowledge, or keen eyesight that would allow them to see the small, almost invisible, <em>I.H.<em> engraved into the bird's left foot, would know it wasn't a real bird instead, a brilliant life-like invention.

Hotaru looked up from her invention. She layed down the screw driver on the desk and held out her hand. The robotic bird hopped onto it. "Relay info, Hibird."

"Narumi has ceased invention. Misaki and Leo completed their missions. Leo is now awaiting verdict from the Elementary School principal."

Hotaru smirked. "Thank you, Hibird. Return to post. Update me on happenings. Job well done."

The little bird peeped happily. "Anything for you, Hotaru-sama! Thank you, Hotaru-sama! Will do, Hotaru-sama! Beep beep!" it said, before flying off again.

Hotaru leaned on her chair, a triumphant grin taking over her face. Her plan had gone wonderfully. Now she can continue on with her bigger plans without hindrances-without nosy teachers sniffing around.

Misaki was easy to control. He was already indignant of Narumi for risking her ability to participate in the Invention expo and his chance to beat Mr. Albert of Alberta. Putting him under an alice spell was easy. Leo was a little trickier, but his under developed mind was still easy to take over. He even had the perfect alice and the perfect motive. A wonderful scapegoat.

Her plans were already too fragile without the pesky blonde putting his nose where it wasn't welcome. She would have to be careful with her victims from now on. She needed to take advantage of her clear name. But everything was okay. She had finished experimenting. Her attempts were almost perfect. A few extra touches and polishing, and she'd be gold.

The first victim, Maria, was a less than successful experiment. Hotaru was trying to take their alices-forcing them into making alice stones. Maria had given her a small rock and her mind was broken in the process. The second was a bit better. The alice stone was larger, but he had gone into a rage. The third had the best result. He had given him a whole lot of his alice-more than enough to furhter her plans and he was going to keep his mouth shut. If only that pesky friend of his didn't butt in and report him. But it turned out well in the end. She was able to use victim four, she remembered her name was Buta, to her advantage.

Using the alice stones Hotaru had taken, she was able to confuse Buta and with the use of some of her inventions and innovations, she was able to replicate the symptoms and signs of alice-rejection (maybe she really did give her alice-rejection). She was able to go as far as admitting Buta to the care of Hii-sama. Sadly the middle school principal's alice had shaken her hold on the girl. The following cases proved better and better results. A few more and she'd finally achieve her goal.

Hotaru would finally be able to break into the Hana-hime building. If her plan goes successfully, she would have a student with all the signs and symptoms of alice-rejection in her control. Alice-rejection cases fell into Hii-sama's jurisdiction and her patients would rest and recover in one of the Hana-hime building's rooms on the basement. If she could still fully control that person while that person was feet bellow ground, then Hotaru could try and break Aoi Hyuuga from her cage.

Hotaru stared warily in the ceiling bereft of cracks. "...maybe then _he'd_ stop being such a prick with a stick up his ass..."

There was no way Hotaru would risk herself and go down the basement by herself. Besides, she liked the challenge. The triumphant feeling she would have when her plan unfolds successfully would be far more fulfilling than the feeling she had now, when her decoy plan yielded successful results.

Her list of accomplishments would grow greatly. She would be able to do what the Black Cat couldn't-free his own sister. She would be able to beat Persona himself, to work right under his nose and remain undetected by him. She would be able to free a blind little girl from her cage of lies and reunite her with her brother. She would have broken into the Hana-Hime building right under Hii-sama's nose.

She would be able to lighten up the load on the Black Cat's shoulders... Free him a little from the Academy's grasp...

**Le fin.**

* * *

><p><em>To: Maria Redpen<em>

_Had a merry Christmas Maria? :D Did you know I was your Secret Santa? I told no one in the hopes that I would surprise you but I don't think I was very discreet.  
>I'm still going to make you that Persona-centric by the way! ;) And this wasn't edited nor was it proofread because I was running out of time but I'll do it when I have time. I don't ship NxH and I don't relate much with Hotaru so I'm<em> really _sorry if this turned out badly._

_I love you! Why? Because I just do. You're a great person. Wonderfully level headed yet spunky when you want to be. Go online more, okay? Let's party! ;) Merry Christmas, happy holidays, have a wonderful new year, and God bless! :*_

_From: Cara (with lotsa love XOXOXOXOXOXOXO)_


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